


When We Becomes I

by Annide



Series: 1998, or the year everything changed [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, Post-Battle of Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-11
Updated: 2015-10-11
Packaged: 2018-04-25 22:53:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4979770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annide/pseuds/Annide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>George has trouble dealing with the aftermath of the Battle</p>
            </blockquote>





	When We Becomes I

                Days had passed since the Battle of Hogwarts when someone came knocking at the door for the first time. It was Molly Weasley and she sounded terribly worried. After a while, she even tried _alohomora_ , but it didn't work, of course. Wizards locked their doors more efficiently than muggles, you couldn't simply enter homes with a simple spell. Surely, Molly had known it wouldn't work, but she couldn't think clearly, she was too sad and worried for that.

                An employee, Verity, came by the week after that. She sounded quite uncomfortable. She really needed him for something down in the shop, but she knew he couldn't be in any state to help. She was gone only minutes later.

                Arthur came next. He yelled through the door how terrible a thing this was to do to his mother, and to him. Did he have any idea how worried they were? Did he know they were grieving too? He stopped yelling after half an hour, said in a low voice they only wanted to help him, waited a few minutes and left.

                Bill came with Fleur. They knocked a couple times then sat down by the door. They spent the afternoon talking about how everyone was doing, what was the world like since Voldemort had been gotten rid of for good this time, how excited they were to visit Harry and Teddy for the first time next weekend, anything so that he'd know they were there, keeping him company the best he allowed them to.

                Charlie showed up in late May to tell him he had to go back home to Romania, but that he would come back in a heartbeat if he was needed. It took almost an hour of silence before the sound of his footsteps going away was heard.

                Molly and Arthur were back the next day. She was sobbing the whole time and her husband tried to comfort her. They knocked a few times, talked to him and even yelled again. They still didn't get anything other than silence.

                Percy gave him an entire speech about his behavior and how mean it was for everyone else in the family and how they all needed each other to get through this. He told him hiding out alone in his apartment wasn't going to do any good and he should stop this right now and accept the support everyone wanted to give him. No one was asking him to go back to the Burrow, and for the first time he learned that none of his brothers had, but Percy urged him to open his door to someone, or at least send an owl to their mother. He didn't wait for an answer.

                In mid June, Ginny woke him up in the middle of the night by doing what sounded a lot like stumbling into the closed door. She then started yelling at him and, between a few incoherent words, he heard her tell him how lonely she was, how much she missed him and needed him and how angry she was at him and "OH AND BY THE WAY NEVILLE WROTE ME ABOUT WINKY COMING OVER HERE TO BRING YOU FOOD SO I KNOW YOU'RE STILL ALIVE IN THERE". Her yells transformed into tears and he heard her crying for while, crying along, still not finding the strength inside to get off the floor and walk to the door. She left when the sun started to rise, after whispering "please don't leave me too" through the door.

                That morning, he actually ate more than one bite of the breakfast Winky brought him. She smiled bigger with every swallow.

                Verity showed up again before the end of June, announcing they had to close the shop because no one was there to sign anything and manage it. He didn't even sit up, he hadn't find it in himself to care about anything for months now.

                July was halfway gone by the time he finally rose off the floor and decided to wash up. He went to the bathroom and removed the cloth he'd put on the mirror the first time he'd had to go after the Battle, and took a look at himself. His hair had grown long, not as long as Bill's yet, but long enough that, coupled with his unshaved beard, it made the sight of his own face, Fred's face, almost bearable. Still, he could barely look at himself without falling apart again, before he'd even put himself back together.

                He went out to the store, not giving a care for the way people stared at him. Once back at the apartment, he showered and when he looked into the mirror again his hair was completely black. He'd wanted it as dark as ginger had been bright. He shaved and when Winky came back around lunch, she gave him a big hug, ecstatic to see him up and clean.

                He didn't leave the apartment for another week. He needed the time to get used to it, to going around its rooms without Fred ever being there.

                He managed to reopen Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes by the start of August. At first, he was wary of going into the shop during the day, while customers wanting to buy stuff to pull pranks on their friends were there, laughing and full of joy. But once he set foot in the crowded space for the first time, he found having people around and seeing that life didn't just stop after the Battle, that people were happy, not like they had been a year earlier, actually helped him get better. The memory of his twin was there, everywhere, but now he could see Fred didn't die in vain and it seemed that he was still here with him, in some way.


End file.
